A graduate (BFA) of Berklee College of Music (Boston) and the New School (New York) Tino Derado, was introduced to classical piano at age six and and crossed over to Jazz in his early teens. In 1994 he started paying the squeeze box. In reflection of his mixed cultural heritage (Croatian/ German), he soon developed a dynamic interest in ethnic and world music.

In 1997, his “extraordinary abilities in the field of Jazz” earned him an honorary U.S. Green Card. In his course of his brief but remarkable career, Tino performed with Gary Burton, Peter Erskine, Paul Winter, Dave Liebman, Craig Handy, Billy Drewes, Matthew Garrison, Jimmy Cliff, Papo Vasquez, Orlando Marin y su orchestra, Andy Gonzales as well as Bob Moses, to name but a few, and toured extensively with various bands in Europe, South America, Russia and the Middle East. In 1996 he served as musical director for Gloria Gaynor at the olympic games in Atlanta.
Mr. Derado is living in New York since 1992.

Matt Penman, 27, started his musical endeavors at the age of 6 when his mother, a classical piano teacher, deemed him mature enough to cope with the inherent difficulties of a parent-child teaching situation. She was of course wrong and spent the next 10 years discovering this. Not a very rewarding period for Mrs Penman but one in which she may well look back on with rosy-tinted nostalgia in light of Matt's later achievements.
It was during this period that Matt learnt that he would never seriously be part of the classical music world, and started taking more notice of his father's record collection. To the sounds of Cat Stevens, Bread, Wings, and of course every Beatles album ever released he proceeded to refine his appreciation for harmony and melody without realizing it.
The introduction by an insistent school teacher of Jazz music into the mix was of course life-altering, as now there was a legitimate reason to not talk to anybody. So it was to the records of Miles, Coltrane, Parker and their cohorts that he devoted his energies, while still acknowledging the power of Led Zeppelin, Guns'N Roses and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers to make you move around a little (this was, after all, New Zealand - he was lucky to have any jazz albums at all).
All these ingredients manifested themselves in Matt's composing, an addictive and tortuous habit that won't go away, and in 1994 his co-led CD âUrbanism” was nominated for New Zealand Jazz Album of the Year. Various other awards and grants followed and he thought it was maybe a good time to move to the States. So on a scholarship from Berklee he spent a valuable year in Boston studying with Herb Pomeroy and Hal Crook before making the move to New York in 1995 where he has been resident ever since.
âIt's been fun - I mean, it's a tough place as everyone knows, but nowhere do you have this much of an opportunity to be involved in so much creative music”, says Penman.
Matt spent the last 6 years traveling the world like a minstrel with his double bass. Among his favorite projects are the bands of Chris Cheek and Nils Wogram. He has also played in the bands of Kenny Werner, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Nneena Freelon (playing on her 2001 Grammy nominated release âSoulcall”), Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Berkman, Guillermo Klein, Mika Pohjola, Peter Bernstein and Sam Yahel amongst others.
Another co-led project âFlipside” led to the release of a self-titled CD on the Naxos Jazz label in 1998, but with âThe Unquiet” (Fresh Sound Records 133) Penman makes his first complete offering as a leader, writing all the tunes and producing. This project sees him in gifted company with frequent collaborator Chris Cheek on sax, Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar, Aaron Goldberg on piano and Rhodes, and Jeff Ballard on drums. Of his sidemen Penman states âI couldnât have asked for a more vital crew. These guys live and play in the here and now and really brought my tunes to life”
Of influences he cites Keith Jarrett and Wayne Shorter as âshining examples of the highest creative beings”, while compositionally itâs the music of Weather Report, Radiohead and The Bulgarian Women's Choir that stand out next to that of Monk and Miles.
Outside of music, Matt's main goal is to improve on his free-throw percentage of 10%.

ROLAND SCHNEIDER (drums/ percussion ) GERMANY

After graduating from his mother's pots and pans, drummer Roland Schneider got his first drum kit at age 15. Starting out in his hometown, Heidelberg, Germany, Roland played everything from jazz and rock to medieval dance and orchestral percussion. In 1991, he moved to New York in pursuit of higher musical education and inspiration where he studied with various drummers including Billy Hart, Keith Copeland and Bill Stewart. Roland is currently performing with a number of cutting edge musicians in the New York area. He is drummer of the Anat Fort Trio, The High Noon Band, and others. He has performed and recorded with outstanding musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, Eddie Henderson, Maynard Ferguson and Muhal Richard Abrahams. Roland has also appeared on Swedish television and has frequently recorded for Swedish and German national radio. He is touring frequently in the United States, Canada, Martinique, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Israel and has performed at international jazz festivals in Banff (Canada), Göttingen (Germany), and Montreaux (Switzerland).

CHIARA CIVELLO ( vocals ) ITALY

Born in Rome, Italy, Chiara Civello began her musical career at an early
age. While studying Jazz at a private school, Chiara was sought after by
some of the most prominent Jazz artists from Italy. At the age of
seventeen, Chiara had already performed extensively and recorded with the
Mario Raja Big Bang She later was approached by Italyâs most acclaimed
Jazz drummer Roberto Gatto to join his band The Noisemakers, with whom she performed extensively in Italy and Europe, as well as recording the album titled "#7"in 1997. In the meantime Chiara partecipated in numerous projects involving such musicians as Paolo Fresu, Stefano Di Battista, Maurizio Giammarco, Petro Tonolo, Marco Tamburini, Bruno Tommaso, Paolo Damiani, Danilo Rea, Fabio Zeppetella, Fabrizio Sferra, Dario Deidda, Ramberto Ciammarughi, Pietro Lussu, Pietro Ciancaglini, Lorenzo Tucci ecc.

After attending a workshop given by Berklee College of Music in Umbria in 1993, Chiara was awarded a scholarship for Outstanding Musicianship, which allowed her to move to the US to study at Berklee. During her enrollment at Berklee, Chiara participated in numerous musical projects both within and outside the College. She received the Boston Jazz Society Award in 1996 and the Cleo Laine Award in 1997.

Upon graduating in 1998, Chiara began to collaborate with internationally
acclaimed musicians such as Phil Woods, George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Mick Goodrick, Mike Stern, Harry Whittaker, Cidinho Teixeira, Bob Moses, Jimmy Haslip, Hiram Bullock, Mark Whitfield, David Gilmore, Cyro Baptista etc... At the same time she started her own musical project involving some of the regionâs most acclaimed Jazz artists including Jamey Haddad, John Lockwood, and Alain Mallet.

The Chiara Civello Quartet has already received critical acclaim and has
performed extensively in some of the East Coastâs most respected Jazz clubs and festivals. For two consecutive years (1999 and 2000) Chiara earned a nomination for the Boston Music Awards as Oustanding Jazz Vocalist.